Share Your Awesome, Accidentally by Design

April 29, 2011

I’m so excited about this week’s featured blogger. Maggie has been a reader for a long time and she is one of the nicest people I’ve ever “met.” She has two beautiful daughters and a newly adopted son. I love her and I know you will too. She blogs at Accidentally by Design. Let’s get to know a little bit more about her.

1. What is like having a little boy in the house?

Hilarious. Having never had a brother, seeing the behavior of a six year-old boy explains so much about my husband. Bodily functions have never been such a rip-snorting good time. The requisite-bath-time-nude-race-around-the-upstairs was completely unexpected. He is never tired if you ask, but goes to bed nicely. He never wants a bath, but loves to play in the tub. He can’t be near a button or a dial without reaching for it. Sports obsession? Check. Any kind of competition? Check? Continual noise making? Check.

2. Scarier question, what is it like having two teenage girls in the house?

Scary is right. Don’t look her in the eye. She perceives it as a challenge. A teen age girl will say things that are completely out of touch with reality. Why? I just don’t know. To get the last word? Because she thinks I am stupid? It is truly ALLABOUTHERANDDON’TYOUFORGETITIHATEYOU. Until there has been a problem, and then the responsibility is evenly distributed amongst the whole universe but not her. They are sweet and sour. Smart and clueless. Beautiful and awkward. Moody. As. Hell. They grow before your very eyes, and it is hard to get past the feeling that your baby is racing out the door and prepare for the eventuality that the 8th grader is going to high school next year. And will be graduating in four. Time is short. I have made so many mistakes and I want the time back. Scary as hell.

(Now I’m having a panic attack. I should have never asked that question.)

3. How did you come to be a doula?

I became a doula when a friend suggested it. I had followed her journey to become a doula and her work. She mentored me. There is no feeling like the feeling of honor at being included in one of the most intimate moments in a family’s life. There is also no reverence like that of being able to support the family without reservation when something doesn’t go according to plan. A midwife is a medical professional with more years of birth specific training than an MD.

4. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging when we started our adoption from China. A friend or two had said I ought to get a blog–the new way of saying they think I should write. Yet I didn’t find a real reason to look into it until I found that others blogged their adoption journeys. I started the first adoption blog at the end of October and by January had ambled off over where the fun was, leaving my bread crumb trail. I met a few really cool people through adoption blogging, but the birds ate my bread crumbs and I ran away from the witch and am living large in the enchanted… wait. What was I talking about? I went to the doc the other day and he swears it is not ADD. My iron is low.

(Rambling is just one of the reasons I love her.)

5. What is the best part of your day?

The best part of my day can change from day to day. It can be the special time in the morning that I spend with coffee mug and prayer. But I don’t always get that. Then it can be the moment I see the light go on in the eyes of my kids as they feel proud of their growth and the job they have done on a task… academic or emotional. Or it can be when I see the Lord’s provision in my kitchen when I think there is nothing there. Or it can be when I share something on the blog and find out Truly Awesome Blog friends have all been in that place too. OR reading something so funny on another person’s blog that I laugh until I snort or so nakedly vulnerable that I sob. Sometimes, it is iced tea on the porch when the weather is perfect. Sometimes it is standing outside in the storm because I am from Oklahoma and we all think we are meteorologists. Sometimes it is…

(This right here? Is another BIG reason I love her. She has the touch of seeing the magical in the mundane.)

I am really loving doing this and I hope y’all are enjoying participating. Here are the rules:

Link up a favorite post you wrote this week.

On the post you feature link back to my blog. Something like, “I’m sharing my awesome with Momma Made It Look Easy and you can too.” It can be in the tiniest print at the very bottom of your post.

Link directly to your blog post and not your home page or a landing page. If you don’t know how to find the permalink just let me know and I’ll help you.

Next week I will randomly pick one participant to feature on my blog.

Please follow all of the rules. Last week I had to delete some participants because they didn’t follow all of the steps. And while it isn’t a requirement, it would be really great if you would check out some of the other blogs that link up, and also, comments are always great. The posts so far have been great and I’m sure they will be this week too.

And while I normally don’t ask for stuff like this, could you share this idea on Twitter and Facebook. Please. I think the more participants we have the better.

I love her reflections on having a boy. I didn't have a brother either and while Noah isn't a typical boy, he still has his moments that shock me. Today I was asking Zoe if she wanted to see the Royal Wedding and Noah said he did, but he wanted to see if William farted when he kissed Kate. I mean, really.

I guess this weekly link-up does one thing.. it motivates me to write ONE post a week- usually at the last minute. But, hey.. baby steps, right?

Jennifer is a wife and working mom of two. She spends her days working as an auditor, and her nights writing about life and parenting. The two favorite compliments she has received about her writing is that it is honest and real, but she delivers it all with a sass and grace indicative of her down-home Texas style. Read More…